Distribution: Native to the Mississippi Valley westward to eastern Oklahoma, widely escaped from cultivation elsewhere.Habitat: Floodplain forests, old fields, roadsides.NWI status: FAC Comment: Widely planted. It is a poor shade tree, but is hardy and fast-growing. The pods contain a sweet pulp, and are eaten by cattle and wildlife. Gleditsia was named in honor of German botanist J. G. Gleditsch; triacanthos refers to the usually three-branched thorns.